By Charlotte Schubert and Janet Raloff
- More than 2 years ago
On Sept. 6, the European Union’s parliament provisionally voted to ban the use and importation of nearly all members of a family of flame retardants known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Manufacturers use these compounds to protect products ranging from computer housings to upholstery fabric. So widely used are PBDEs that traces of the substances show up throughout the environment–even in human breast milk.